Friday, June 1, 2018

Freestyle Friday - Glock, the FG-42, and Fan Boys


The Braves are, as of this writing, first place in the East. So not much to rant about there.

So, for this week's free style Friday rant. I'm going to bash on fan boys. All of them.

What's funny, is the genesis for this rant started yesterday, we received a transfer for a regular customer. A Winchester Model 1911 in 12 gauge. A nifty, if dangerous old shot gun.

A hanger, not a banger

So, after Jackie saw the video of me demonstrating how to cock the thing, I found myself explaining to her over Japanese how John Browning made oodles of money off of his patents. And those oodles of money allowed him to sell certain things to the military for a pittance. Including the BAR. Now, I mentioned the BAR, and got the look of befuddlement from her. She was picturing the BAR Safari grade that the adopted little brother let me play with for a month.

The internet likes dog pictures

So, that led me down the rabbit hole of explaining walking fire, the LMG, the SAW, and all sorts of stuff. Which some how got me started on the FG-42. Objectively, the FG-42 preforms better than the BAR. As does the BREN. And maybe even the Nambu. But, here's the thing, small arms don't win wars. Regardless of what side they're on. But, go to any section of the internet, and you'll see a guy singing the praises of the FG-42 as the end be all gun. And running down the BAR. And the mind boggles. It must be something with guns from Austria and Germany that inspire such legions of howler monkey fans. Tam links to an article concerning a supposed tortue test of a Glock.

Yeah, calling bullshit on that. I don't have a jersey nor do I shoot all that much, but, I've had to replace the springs in my Glock 21 after one three gun season. Yeah, no.

But in the gun culture, for whatever reason, develops disciples of certain brands. Glock being pretty bad. HK being pretty bad, too.

But geez, in the cancer that is the comment section of that article you see guys defending that utter garbage as if their Mother had been accused of making a sex tape with Drake. I mean, damn.

Your gun preference doesn't define your personality. If someone doesn't like your gun, you're still a good person. If someone doesn't want to carry a Glock 19, they aren't going out with a death wish.

The mind boggles, for me anyway. A Glock is just about the most utilitarian hand gun I can think of. And affordable, to boot. But owning one doesn't make you an ultimate super secret commando shootist. Now this might hurt a bunch of tactical timmy feelings, but you're never gonna need to run your Glock 20,000 rounds after pulling it out of the Ocean. Which is good, because it would probably break a spring or suffer a magazine failure first.

Hey guy, you a bought a Glock 19 from Academy. I don't think Delta is going to be calling you up to offer your opinion on what they should buy next. Sorry dude.

And saving this back for a further rant, that guy is a reason the major gun rags are having issues. But that's a different rant for a different day.



8 comments:

  1. Hey Mack;

    Explaining the inner working of John M. Browning can take some time, that guy was prolific. And yes a BAR is better than a Nambo, the Japanese guy the Japanese version of JMB was prolific, but his designs were nowhere near as good. And Japanese firearms with the exception of the Ariska were not as reliable. What helped the Japanese out was their training and discipline, that helped them overcome the shortcomings of their firearms. Excellent post BTW and I view Glock as an appliance....kinda like a dishwasher....they work, but have no soul. unlike a 1911, but no I ain't a fanboy of the 1911. I like them a lot, but as far as being one of the screeching ones praising one over the other....nope.

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    1. I'm the say way. However, I will admit to being a bit of a Hawkeye howler monkey

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  2. The problem of the BAR, of course, isn't that it's a bad gun, it's that it was designed around a bad tactical concept. Walking assault fire, my god.

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    1. Yes! When I was explaining to Jackie, I told her it was almost fire and maneuver. That may be a next week post.

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  3. Good write up! I have almost completely stopped reading comments sections, especially on review articles because of the awful reactions people have.

    My primary full-size pistol is often one of those subjected to that kind of attitude. I have a full sized Springfield XD (original flavor) in 9mm. It is my primary gun because I shoot it well, it has functioned well for me, and it is what i know. But by reading comments around the internet you'd think I should already be 6 feet under because carrying anything other than a Glock (or an M&P etc...) will get me killed.

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    1. That's my issue with a lot of trainers today. They preach if you don't leave the house without a full sized gun, two spare mags, a back up piece, a fixed blade knife, and a 4 cell MagLite you might as plan on dying. And that is very off putting to most newbies interested in daily CCW.

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